Other forms: manipulates, manipulated, manipulating, manipulation
To manipulate somebody is to work them like a machine — steering what they think and do while letting them believe they chose it. The whole point is that it does not feel like being pushed.
It is not always about people. You manipulate data, an image, a market, a set of controls; in that sense it can be neutral or even skilled, and a surgeon manipulates a joint back into place. But used of a person it is always an accusation. The noun is manipulation and the person is a manipulator.
1verbmanipulateTo control somebody cleverly and unfairly, without their noticing.~2%
“He manipulated her into paying for everything.”
2verbhandleTo handle or adjust something skilfully.~86%
“She manipulated the tiny wires with tweezers.”
3verbchangeTo change figures or results dishonestly.~12%
“The accounts had been manipulated for years.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 8 sentences found in the wild and placed 8 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
a back-formation from manipulation.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA